Immortal Soul
by emzthewriter
Summary: Ever felt like something just happened… happened before? A déjà vu perhaps? Well, I do. Sometimes. Maybe. Well, okay – lot more times than a normal human should have. Then again, I'm just normal, or am I?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The last thing I saw was a big flash before the depths of darkness finally engulfed my whole body. I never really knew what happened, but I know that, somehow, I'm alive? Well, I feel like I am, at least. There's only one problem – I can't feel my body. It's like, I'm just existing, and I'm just here hovering above darkness.

Is this the afterlife?

I know I'm awake, making pointless thoughts in this vast and empty void. I know for the fact that I have lived before – in a much colourful world than this black void. I know I had friends, family, someone to lean on. What's strange is, I do not really know what happened before I got here.

No, wait.

I do not even know who I am. I don't know my name. I'm just existing in this blank canvas.

 _"It's time to start over."_

I looked around, trying to find the source of the mysterious voice. "Who's there?" I darted my eyes around, hoping to find some clues. I narrowed my eyes as a small spec of light hovered towards me in an incredible speed, somehow making my body distorted and out of human shape. The noise it carried sent me crouching down, hugging myself in an attempt of silencing it. Its bright light came closer and closer until—

::

Unbounded from a loving warmth, I managed to pry my tired eyes open, only to be greeted by a bright light hovering above as a few figures block a portion. They had their heads hung low, eyes fixed on me as their masks covered their faces. I know that even when everything is blurry – probably from this sticky substance that is stuck on my body.

A loving pair of tangerine eyes met my blurry ones as the masked person handed me to a tired-looking woman. She cradled me in her arms and gave it away – the one who's cradling me right now is my mother, in this world anyways. She ran her soft fingers above my soft skin and soon, rubbed my forehead in a circular motion, a comforting and affectionate one. She hummed softly before releasing me to another pair of arms that were ready to hold me.

I weakly looked up, meeting another pair of tangerine orbs that belonged to a softly tanned, raven-haired man. His scruffy beard came contact to my skin as he gave my forehead a gentle kiss. He welcomed me in his arms like I'm his own, so now I know that he's my father.

I smiled and closed my tired eyes that were begging for a comfy nap. To be looked down on and be gently cradled in one's loving warmth is really comforting.

"Kimiko…" The man who's cradling me spoke, "… she looks just like you."

A faint giggle made me open my eyes, "She does, Haruto… Gaianna does…"

Gaianna? Must be my name then. It sounds vaguely familiar, like I have encountered the name before. Other than that, it's a pretty name for someone like me who just kind of popped from a blank void.

Wait.

Their language, I heard it before – Japanese? It must be since I can understand them thanks to me attending a Japanese class and studying the language on my own. It's like, my brain didn't even process it first and I just immediately know what they meant. Well, that's convenient, isn't it? Me going in that complicated class that is.

I sighed in my void of thoughts, a small smile escaping my lips.

I know I died, but is it really this easy to live again? Minus the fact that I must survive whatever environment I'm in now. But, still – is it always like this?

 _"In fact, no."_

Okay, I'm hearing things. Someone just answered my thoughts. Wait, no. It's myself who answered my thoughts – let's go with that.

 _"Actually…"_

Yeah, I just died and this must be the after effects. Wait, I know – I'm just dreaming! I didn't die, pfft. Yeah, that must be it. I'm gonna wake up any time now…

 _"Huh."_

… Any time now…

 _"Hey—"_

… Any—

 _"Can you please stop silencing me out?"_

Okay. I'm crazy.

I opened my eyes and met a blurry sight of a white ceiling. I tried to look around and managed to discern a figure sleeping next to me as her arm lightly wrapped around my body. I smiled and shifted my position a bit so I'm holding onto her arm – my mother's arm.

Good, the voice is gone—

 _"Shut it."_

—or not. Wait. I'm the one who's supposed to be saying that, whoever you are. Don't spike your sass in my head.

 _"Oh, and uh… my job. Right. Cough, cough, sniff, sniff – welcome to your next life, Galen– uh, Gaianna. You will never hear from me again. Thank you."_

What on earth is wrong with this world?


	2. Immortal Soul - Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

A few dozens of tries were made and I can finally crawl around the Sky residence, my family. Well, it probably looks weird and unusual that a 3 month old child is already crawling around but I get bored easily in the small cage that I was locked into and got nothing to do anyways but to sleep, eat, do business and repeat.

It's a crib, by the way, not an actual cage just in case you didn't get that. My parents are way too nice to lock me up in an actual cage. They can't even hurt a single fly! That's how nice they are.

Oh, me? I'm not like any child, thank you for noticing. I am someone whose soul rose from the black void of afterlife to live anew – basically the wisest baby in this world, but you know that already.

I can utter gibberish in such a young age and is often seen hanging around a bookcase and picking out books to read. My mother thought it's cute and thought that I was imitating my father who's, surprise, surprise, a bibliophile. My father, however, saw potential through me almost instantaneously after I picked out a hard-to-understand book off of his shelf, so he started reading me books about ninjas and whatnot.

I really like listening to him and is almost transported back to my very own fantasy world in my old life. He reads me stories about a first war that happened, followed by the second and third. It's funny how his books' stories resemble the anime and manga I used to read and absolutely love.

Wait…

Is it possible that – nah. Silly me.

Me? In an anime world? Psshhh. Impossible. I'm just a perfectly normal baby, living in a perfectly normal life –

 **THUMP**

I slowly turned to my right, blinking slowly as the reflection of my golden yellow eyes met my orbs. A kunai embedded deeply into the once perfectly painted wall an inch from my head greeted me oh-so-suddenly.

My father slammed the book he held in his hand close, quickly scrambling towards me and picking me up as hastily as he possibly could. I saw my mother turn off the bright light that once lit the room we were in, before quickly following my father. Her eyes seemed to have glowed under the shadows of the dreadful night as she looked out of the window behind us.

I'm still confused, trying to take in everything slowly as my small body jogged around by my running father. He leaped off to somewhere and my mother followed. It was then when I realised that we leaped from our house's third floor's room. I blinked twice as my father handed me to my mother while keeping a fast and steady pace of running away.

"Haru… you're not going to – are you?" She gave him a questioning look.

My father glanced back and slowed his pace down. "Take yourself and Ianna-chan to safety, preferably to the _last choice_." He then stopped, making my mother stop as well to look back at him. "I'm going to fall back a bit," he smiled, a smile that I somehow do not trust.

"I'm coming back, I promise."

I looked up at my mother who got her eyes closed, trying to hold back her tears in front of her fragile child that she thought to be innocent. "Oh, I know you will." She smiled as a few stray locks of wavy hair block out the sadness from her eyes, "Be safe…" My brunette mom leaped up front in to the thick forest that surrounded and hid our home from the rest of the world, quickening her pace as her small child faces the back.

I saw my father mouth something before giving us a wide smile and turning back to where we were.

I'm really confused – why is my family being pursued? Why did my father left? What _last choice_? I'm just someone who, just recently, came back from the dead! Why so soon? Don't tell me this is going to be a cliché story where my family – or _clan_ , is being hunted down? It better not go down that hell hole. I don't want to pull a Sasuke far too early in this chance of life.

Sure enough, this world points to one possible world – the Naruto world. I mean, how else could my mother and father leap off of the window with no worries? How else could my mother walk horizontally and upside-down on a freaking tree?

Right, they're shinobi's.

I'm in freaking Naruto!

Hah. I'm picturing a baby so darn calm while she's cursing inwardly. Oh, wait. That's me. I do not even know how my baby self is so darn calm while my mind is flooding with crazy thoughts about endings in this chapter of my life! Why am I, in all places, here?

How can even a human go to – wait, no. It's Naruto that has come to life. My mother looks like a perfectly normal human being, excluding the eccentric colour of eyes, not squiggly lines of colour and shadows. Now I'm curious how the rookie nine look like, especially the main team. Oh, oh – I wanna see Bakashi-sensei! Wait! I'm going off topic! I don't even know what timeline I'm in. For all I know I could be in Boruto or in the earlier time when Madara and Hashirama were still alive.

Thoughts aside, my mother continued to run through the forest and through a, what it seems like, a barrier – and why would I know this? Well, distortion happened where it shouldn't have happened. She continued to carry me carefully while also going full speed ahead to hopefully make a wide gap between our pursuers upon passing through the invisible force. Did I mention that the scenery changed when we went through the barrier? Well, it did. It drastically changed.

"Kaa-san?" I managed to utter when she halted. "Kaa-san… Anna... kowai…" I told her as I clenched my fists, unknowingly gripping tight on her frilled top.

Why wouldn't I be scared? The once lush green forestry that I knew and loved for the past months suddenly just vanished and turned to a dead forest once we went through the barrier. It just doesn't make sense in my head. I'm too normal for this.

My normal brain can't even function correctly right now.

I felt her smile even though I was looking down, trying to process everything slowly. "It's okay, Ina-chan. We'll get to safety soon." Her gentle voice soothed my scared and confused self before doing the thing she does to calm me down, rubbing my forehead gently. "I know we will."

::

My eyes flutter open as the sun shine over my small face. I blinked twice and noticed that my mother is still running towards our unknown destination, through a lush, green forest this time. I looked up at her and tilted my head, making a stray short, lock of hair fall down the frame of my face.

"Did Kaa-san wake you?" She giggled, trying to mask her exhaustion away. "Don't worry, we're close to safety."

I simply gave her a small smile as a response. She's too tired to deal with me right now, especially when we're still running away to safety. She's a mess right now but she's really trying her best to be at her full speed just to get away. I like this mother of mine. She's caring and kind, and will do her all for my safety. She seems nice, unlike…

I fell into a deep thought as a hazy memory filled my mind. My serious gaze locking on an innocent stray hair resting on my mother's shoulder as an unknown warmth touch breeze through my body. In this memory, I was also being carried, running away from someone.

Wait, this happened before? Is it a déjà vu?

I don't even know.

"Ianna-chan?" I heard my mother, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Are you okay? Are you hungry? Do you need anything?" She asked me in a worried tone, slowing her pace before coming to a full stop. I shook my head and smiled at her, making her nod and resume her running.

Eventually, I forgot whatever I was thinking about and was enthralled by the animals that were clearing their way for us, well, for my mother. Like, seriously – are they tamed or something? And what is that? A tiger? What the –

"We're here, Ina-chan." My mother made me look forwards upon hearing her words. She slowed her pace down as we closed in on a clearing, a path that led straight to a giant red gate with familiar symbols that sure made my eyes go wide.

Before I could even react, my mother came to a full stop before I heard a light thud. I blinked twice, realising that my mother had fainted just a few steps away from the open gates. I then looked away from her exhausted face to meet the eyes of the two guards guarding the gates.

I felt water dwell in the edge of my eyes, threatening to fall as my infant instincts replace my mature mind when I felt my mother's breath go shallow and irregular. The bead of tears betrayed me as my cries and sniffles resonated loud enough to gather people's attention. The two guards rushed up to my mother and my baby self as quickly as they could before taking my mother and me in their arms.

They took the Shinobi route and jumped along the rooftops to reach the nearest hospital. The one who's carrying me slowed his pace down to not shake my poor body. Oh, and props for him for soothing me out of my crying fit – I have no control over it at the moment. He stopped mid-way to take his time to wipe the stray tears and tear marks on my face before reassuring me that everything is okay, which makes me like this guy even though I don't know him… yet.

No, I don't recognise him in canon. Yes, he looks like Kotetsu, so he might be his father or a relative.

A few moments later, we finally made it. They admitted us in the hospital before quickly rushing out of the place to tell their leader, which is the Hokage, about the mother and daughter who suddenly came out of nowhere just to collapse and cry in front of the red gates. Well, I'm sure they're going to word it out more politely and take out the sassiness.

This is when I also found out that my mother collapsed due to exhaustion, thank you captain obvious. I overheard a pair of nurse's talk about how my mother didn't collapse sooner for she ran for… SIX HOURS STRAIGHT?! Wow, Okaa-san. I love you, I really do.

They also took care of me and placed me in the same room as my mother's. They tried to feed me but I didn't budge and only stared at the framed face of my mother, which made me remember my father in this world. He didn't follow us, but I will not lose hope. Not yet.

I know for a fact that my father here is an absolute genius. Yeah, sure, he almost forgot he was cooking something and almost burned the house down but he's still a responsible father. Okay, it happened several times in only a span of my time in this timeline. It happened twenty-three times to be exact. But hey, when he cook something and doesn't forget about it, he's an absolute genius – it's bloody delicious.

I know that Haruto Sky will not lose. He's my father after all. His blood runs through my veins along with his strength and will. He. Will. Not. Lose.

Not today. Not tomorrow. Never.

I, Gaianna Sky, solemnly swear to believe that my father is going to come back to live his role as my genius father in this world. 

:: 

**Gaianna is pronounced as Guh-ya-na.**

 **Well, it's already eventful, huh?**


	3. Immortal Soul - Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Never once in my life I thought that someone as famous as the Hokage will cradle me in his arms. Right now, he is. Hiruzen Sarutobi – THE. THIRD. HOKAGE. Is literally holding me in his arms right now, staring at me with his joyous and sparkling eyes.

I kept my calm nature and only stared at him with a warm smile, making him smile back. "Gaianna was it? Then I shall call you Anna-chan." He chimed, making me smile a bit more. "And you shall call me Grandpa, okay?" I nodded at his rant, admiring his cheerful nature around little children, which is currently me.

"It's been a while, Sarutobi-sama…" I heard my mother greet the said man from her hospital bed. "It's been an absolute while…"

Wait… they know each other?

The Hokage turned around to face her, making me face her as well with an obvious confusion on my face. "It has been a while, Kimiko. I thought that I would never see you again." He gave her a saddened and pained smile, "Why did you come back? Is it because of Gaianna's father?"

I blinked at his question. What did my father do? He's not that bad – he's funny, caring, goofy –

"It is." I froze at my mother's answer, "But… it's because of his pursuers. They never did leave my family after all… even under your warnings." She sighed and looked down at her nails. "Because of them my brother…" she's starting to chip away her nails with her own nails.

The Hokage narrowed his eyes before handing me to a nurse and shooing us out of the room. He closed the door behind us and closed the blinds, making me blink twice to process what just happened. It seems like he doesn't want us, me specifically, to hear whatever they are about to talk about.

Fair enough. It's obvious that my three-month old self is aware what's happening around me so it's better careful than sorry, eh?

I looked behind as the nurse started walking down the hall. She halted for a few seconds before bowing down to whoever she just bumped into. I snapped away from my distraction and locked my gaze with onyx ones as I tried to see the person. He, too, was being carried. By him, someone resembling a baby version of Itachi being carried by his mother.

Wait.

 _Oh dear._

::

A joyful shriek escaped my mother's lips as my father stepped in her room with only a few scratches littered on his body. She literally jumped out of her bed and latched onto my father to lock him in her tight embrace. My father laughed and hugged her back, rubbing her back as he supported his own to lean against the white walls of the once bland and now colourful room.

It has been a week days since my mother and I arrived in Konoha, so I'm really glad that my father survived. Sure, he ended up with a few scratches but I'm glad he's fine and doing well. He still got that smile of his plastered on his tanned face, making me smile in happiness.

I smiled and raised my hand, wanting to join in with the reunion. My father soon freed himself off of my mother's death hug before picking me up and cradling me in his arms. This is when my eyes snapped open as he hugged me tight.

Something is very wrong.

Right now, I'm five months old, meaning that we've been staying here for at least two months now. The Hokage gave my family a place to live – somewhere near the border of the village, surrounded by lush green emptiness, which is actually quite not bad. It was very generous of him, giving the Sky family a literal mansion, for me anyways. A Japanese mansion. He even laughed and said that this is nothing compared to his home so my mother simply walked away from his bragging.

There's four bedrooms in total, two kitchens, three bathrooms, and one living room in this now Sky residence. There's a lush green yard protecting the residence much like the old house that we were in. Oh, did I mention that this house is also a two-storey building? Meaning that once I grow up, I can claim one of the bedrooms upstairs. The Hokage also mentioned something about a secret but I never really listened because I was dozing off when he brought us here.

Other than replacing a bit of furniture and buying a lot of books, nothing is out of the blue in this residence – yet. I glanced at my father who placed me in a playpen a few steps away from the couch and enough distance to see the television's contents, which is usually shinobi news and o-a dramas. I craned my neck upwards to see him better, observing his every move.

I'm just too paranoid, huh? That kunai sure did scare the hell out of me… but there really is something off about him lately. Oh, that's right!

He's not reading me his books…

Maybe he's busy?

::

November 22nd marks my birth in this world, which is today, so my mother is doing all her best to make me one pretty baby on this particular day. My mother took me out of the small tub after a short bath. She dressed me up in a yellow, flower-y yukata with an unknown mark at the back, and styled my short hair, which is growing out nice and wavy, with a red ribbon. She took my feet and made me wear light, wooden sandals right after the cloth that she wrapped around my now one-year old feet.

I looked down and smiled at my outfit that matched the golden shade of my eyes and when I looked up, I saw my mother wearing the same outfit I have, but in a different colour – lavender, to be exact. She turned around and took her hair to the side to style and braid it with her pale fingers. This made me have an opportunity to look at the unknown mark at the back of her clothing. Well, mine too.

Eyes. It's definitely in a shape of an eye. Its lashes curved upwards that made it resemble an antler of an alpha antelope. Its eccentric green colour that resembles a lush green forest that soon faded into a tint of golden yellow is very eye catching. That's the mark my family carries.

"Ianna-chan?" I heard the soft voice of my mother, making my eyes travel to her face that soon trailed down to her feet and back atop.

She's really… beautiful. I would marry her if I could. The way her dark brown hair flowed down on her shoulder, the way her stray locks framed her face perfectly is just too enthralling. Her golden orbs stood out greatly, contrasting the dark freckles she have on her cheeks.

"Ianna-chan?" I heard her again, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Are you ready for our day out? Your father is already waiting for us outside." She smiled softly before letting me down the table to walk on my own. She held out her free hand and I held up mine, taking her warm hand. "Let's go."

"Un." I smiled, trotting happily as she led the way out.

My father greeted us on our way out and happily picked me up in his arms. His black yukata that became the canvas of blue waves of embroidery, which is draped grandly over his body, rubbed against my brightly coloured one. I smiled and kissed his cheek, making his scruffy beard rub gently back on my lips.

"Happy birthday, Ianna-chan." He smiled, and I smiled back, mouthing a small thanks.

I kept my gaze at him as we started going to wherever just to celebrate my very first birthday. I'm just really glad that he's alive and here today, because if he died that day, I would have no father to be at my side today and in the future. I'm just really lucky he's –

A flash of different colour splashed over his orbs. I blinked, he blinked. I opened my mouth to speak, but he chuckled and kissed my forehead, making me halt my action.

Well, that was weird.

"Ah! Kimiko-neesan! It's been a while!" I heard someone, making me whip my head forwards to see the owner of the voice. "Is this your child? She's so cute-ttebane!"

Oh, that catch phrase.

"Kushina-chan." My mother greeted back with a bob of head, "And yes, Gaianna is. She just turned one today." She said with a proud smile on her face, taking me from my father's arms and handing me to the arms of the Uzumaki Habanero whose eyes are shining brightly as the morning sun.

I stared at the redhead and admired her beauty. "Pretty…!" I managed to say as I held out my hand at her hair, carefully running my fingers along the strands. She blushed at my comment and hugged me tight, knocking the air out of my tiny lungs.

"Oh, you sweet little thing! You're so cute-ttebane!" With her words, I giggled and hugged back, managing to catch my breath once again.

"Kushina-san!" I said before giving her a warm smile. Ah, the Habanero is so pretty up this close. I wonder where the Yellow Flash could be –

 _Speak of the devil._

"Kimiko-neesan, hisashiburi." I heard a polite greeting coming behind Kushina.

My mother took her time to walk beside the redhead just to greet the soon-to-be Lord Fourth. She smiled and ruffled the tall man's head by going on her tiptoes, "Oh… I've truly missed you…" she trailed off into a sorrowful tone, gaining my and Kushina-nee's attention while making the blonde narrow his eyes.

When we finally turned to their direction, we caught my mother hugging a blonde young man, as if she doesn't want to let him go – as if he's going to fade if she let go of him. It caught us by surprise and everything during that time seemed to have slowed down until Minato tapped Kaa-san's shoulder.

"K-Kimiko-nee…?" Minato sounded as confused as we are, tilting his head and making an eye contact with his fiancé who's holding an equally bewildered one year old. He softened his expression before slowly hugging my mother back, closing his eyes and rubbing her back. "Something happened?" I heard him whisper.

My mother glanced at my father with worried eyes, who's a few steps away from us, sitting under a red-leaved tree. She then slowly looked back the blonde before trailing off her eyes onto the ground. "My otōto is…"

But before she continued telling Minato about her… brother (whom I didn't know exists), she turned her head towards us before giving a seemingly genuine smile. "Kushina-chan…" She let go of her hug on Minato, "Minato-kun…" she then took me from the redhead's arms and kissed my cheeks, "Let's… celebrate my daughter's first birthday before anything else, okay?"

Kushina and Minato blinked and stared at each other for a moment before looking back at me and my mother. "Alright-ttebane!"

My mother then looked at my father who looked back with a soft and cool smile before standing up from where he was seated. "Let's go, deary." Kaa-san walked us over to where he is.

My birthday went as normal as it can get – walking around parks, visiting Lord Third, who gave me a lot of unnecessary things for a one year old, like a set of sharp and pointy senbons and a dozen of kunais from his armory in the tower. I'm guessing he didn't know it's my birthday today so all of that was his "emergency gifts" for me.

We walked around the village and had lunch at an Akamichi restaurant, which gave us a discount since it's my birthday and everyone deserves a discount in their birthdays, and lemme tell you – Kushina eats a lot. By a lot, I mean a lot. Well, my mother eats a lot too, restricting her own self to only have five servings of this traditional Japanese meal.

When evening came around, Minato parted from us because he was called for a quick mission from the Daimyo. Kushina decided to stick with us just to adore my cute face. In fact, she's the one who's carrying me right now towards our unknown destination.

"Oh, Gaianna-chan…" The redhead started, "You'll grow as beautiful as your mother, trust me because I know you will." She ended her words with a beautiful smile that probably enthralled her fiancé… which also worked on me, making me giggle and hug her.

I heard my Kaa-san giggle from up front. She led us around and when she finally halted, I looked back to where she took us – which honestly took me by an awful surprise. Why on earth, _in all places_ , are we here?

"Ah! Kimiko-san!" I heard a voice approaching from the inside of the compound, making all of our eyes peel off from the crest plastered on the gates and walls of the place towards a young, raven haired woman who's carrying a weasel – I mean, a _serious_ baby in her arms, followed by her grumpy husband.

My golden orbs made contact with the weasel's onyx ones, and none of us blinked until Mikoto finally walked up to us. I tilted my head and Itachi remained the same, serious and all – that until his mother decided it'd be a great idea to hold her baby a few inches away in front of me. Itachi deadpanned at his mother with an 'are-you-serious' look, making me bring out a toothy grin.

I first looked at them and noticed that the main Uchiha family is also wearing their yukata's in the family's favourite colour – grey, black and blue, with an exception for their child who has a red flower embroidery on his black yukata. I then smiled at the serious child and reached out my hand, touching his hand and making him flinch at the sudden action.

"Oh?" His mother smiled at the cuteness both Itachi and I are radiating. "Ah! Kimiko-san! Look! They're perfect together!" She squealed, earning a look from her husband and her baby who seemed to have understood what she just said.

"Aw, you're right!" Kushina joined, making my mother approach the circle of joy and purity.

"Gaianna-chan, this is Itachi-kun. Itachi-kun, this is my daughter, Gaianna-chan." Kaa-san introduced us, taking me from Kushina's arms and holding me up an inch away from the weasel's face.

I smiled and held out my hand to his, "I'chi!" I managed to blurt out.

He looked away and puffed out his cheeks before uttering out something silent, "… An'na…"

I giggled and tighten my hold at his tiny hands, making him narrow his eyes and look away more than he is looking away right now, completely avoiding my gaze. Who knew that the soon-to-be rogue ninja is a complete tsun-tsun?


End file.
